Loose Ends
by morgana07
Summary: 1-shot. While waiting for Sam to return, Dean settles loose ends with Cole over a few matters. *Protective/ticked off!Dean with some Sam. /Mild Spoilers for 10x15 Things They Carried.*


**Loose Ends**

**Summary: **_1-shot. While waiting for Sam to return, Dean settles loose ends with Cole over a few matters. *Protective/ticked off!Dean with some Sam. /Mild Spoilers for 10x15 Things They Carried.*_

**Warnings: **_Minor language. _

**Spoilers/Tags: **_Yes, there will be some spoilers and can be tagged to 10x15 The Things They Carried._

**Disclaimer: **_I own nothing._

**Author Note: **_Sorry it took me a little while to get a tag up. The muse's focus is on another genre but here is a general fic from last night's episode since a few people were a little unhappy about Dean and Cole not broaching what happened before with Sam. Enjoy._

**SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN**

"So Sam's on his way back," Dean Winchester disconnected the call from his brother to look over at the man who was pouring water on the fire to put it out after they'd had to turn the run down cabin into a virtual sweat lodge to try to force the monster worm out of Cole before he got too out of control and faced the same fate as his friend. "He said it'll probably be 45 minutes or so since he wanted to be sure your pal's wife was okay."

Nodding, Cole poured water on the hot embers while also swallowing more himself. He figured it might be a few days or longer before he got the taste out of his mouth and longer before he forgot the images of what he'd seen recently.

"I guess I should say thanks for saving my ass, Dean-o," he finally broached the awkward silence in the cabin as he looked at the man that only months before he'd wanted see die a painful and bloody death. "After everything I've done recently you really could've just popped a cap in my skull and been done with it."

"Yeah, but then I'd be no better than the monsters Sam and I hunt," Dean replied. He still watched the shorter man in case perhaps that damn worm might've had time to multiply inside him but he didn't think it had so he felt confident that Cole was free of any infection.

As the hunter repacked the duffel from earlier and tossed the former Marine another bottle of water to help get him rehydrated, he paused to consider something that he'd been trying to let go but now that it was just him and Cole, without Sam, Dean decided he had to handle some loose ends.

"Hey, before Sam gets back there's a couple little things I think you and I need to talk about," he began slowly, not missing the way Cole paused and guessed he knew what might be coming when he turned to face him. "Just a few loose ends to sort out before little brother's here to play middle man."

"Uh-huh," Cole grunted but had to admit he wasn't surprised the hunter was finally getting around to this subject. "I kind of thought you beating my ass that first time settled this."

"Dude, I was an uncaring black-eyed son of a bitch that first time. I beat your ass mainly because you irked me," Dean admitted but knew there might have been slightly more to it than that if he thought back; not that he'd ever say it to either Cole or Sam. "If I'd been reacting to you nailing my little brother, to you putting your hands on him, to causing him pain or more importantly to you nearly kneecapping him? You wouldn't have lived to have put a gun in my face in that other alley," he gave his duffel a hard jerk; the real sign that he was still pissed off over Cole's kidnapping and torturing his brother just as a way to get his attention. "Now that time, he caught me when I was still getting over being that black-eyed bastard and I was coping with the guilt of swinging an axe at Sammy's head so we didn't get to settle that matter."

"And now you think is a good time?" Cole asked carefully, caution increasing since he knew that while Dean hadn't shot him earlier to stop the threat of the worm's infection from making him evil the ex-soldier had a solid gut hunch that the man might do it for what he'd done to his brother. "This going to turn bloody, Dean-o?"

Dean's jaw muscle twitched and his fingers clenched automatically as he tried to tell himself to control his temper. He'd been doing well at keeping the mark on his arm under control and he didn't want Sam to walk in on him out of control. "No, not if you keep your mouth shut and listen for once," he longed to throw a punch as he thought back to the bruises he'd seen on Sam, and then when he'd dragged it out of his brother later on about just what had happened between him and Cole that night.

"First off, I want the name of the asshole you tipped you off that if you went after my brother you'd get my attention. That's only known in the hunting circle and if there's still assholes looking to hurt Sam that would sell him out to you then I want names so I can go remind them of Dean Winchester's #1 rule; the rule that you have skated by barely from facing and that's touch my baby brother and lose a goddamn lung," the hunter eyed Cole fully, tone deep and dangerous as it slipped into one that still came automatically to him when his brother was concerned.

"No, it wasn't from anyone in that circle. I just did a lot of homework on you and figured it out," Cole returned while leaning against the table in the cabin but kept his eyes on the hunter as much as Dean's eyes were on his. "The one thing I learned besides how badass you were supposed to be…was that if you had a weak spot that it would be Sammy boy so I tried it without knowing that you weren't exactly you," he eyed Dean and began to notice a couple things but stayed quiet on that for the moment. "Kinda curious though. If you hadn't been…a demon or whatever…what would you have done?"

Dean's lips curved into a slow smirk, hand moving to the gun that was back in position at the small of his back. "First of all, if I hadn't been a damn demon you wouldn't have gotten close to my brother to nail him because I would've had his back and I would've goddamn for sure kicked your ass for trying," he said firmly, going on as he pushed away from the sink where he'd been leaning and didn't miss the way Cole tensed as if expecting a punch to come his way. "As for what I would've done if I hadn't been a demon and who basically tortured my brother? What would I have done if I had turned the Impala around that night and tracked your ass down to where you and he were? I would've done exactly what I did when you tossed that smoke grenade in the bar and then hit Sam when he came out. I would've kicked your ass all over that warehouse.

"Y'see, that's the one thing that I don't think people understand. Hell, I don't even know if Sammy still understands it after all the crap that we've been through since I went to Stanford for him one night. I've been looking after him since he was six months old. I have taught that everything he knows about nearly everything, minus the computer stuff. I taught him to walk, to talk, to ride a bike, to shoot a gun. That was all on me because our Dad was out fighting monsters after our Mom died on the ceiling in Sammy's nursery," Dean paused to take a breath and force the burning on his arm to take a back seat for the moment.

"When he started school, I kicked bullies asses if they touched him. By the time he was 14, nearly everyone in the hunting community knew that it wasn't John Winchester who would kick ass if Sam was hurt or used as bait or touched in any way. It was me and I have kicked more than a few hunters in the ass for hurting my brother over the years. In fact, I still need to return some favors to a couple but right now I have other issues hounding my ass; like making sure it isn't me who ends up being the one who hurts my brother in a way that we can't come back from," pushing up his sleeve he allowed the ex-Marine to see the blood red Mark of Cain on his arm. "This is beyond your current skill level. Hell, it's beyond mine but it's also why I'm not kicking your ass for touching Sam, for nearly crushing his knee with a hammer. Violence feeds it and I don't want to follow in its original owner's footsteps and kill my brother so this is me tying up those loose ends, Cole."

Dean's hand suddenly reached out to grab Cole by the shirt to haul him closer, green eyes hard and like steel when he spoke again. "If you ever lay your hands on my brother for any reason, barring possession, I will kill you," he said firmly, shaking his head as he started to see a smirk start to form. "No, this isn't your typical male bravado or barroom talk. This is me promising you, not threatening but promising you, that if you ever touch Sam again I will kill you and you will not see me coming. Now, do we understand one another?"

Cole looked into hard green eyes to consider the man's words. He'd been around a lot of tough talk and empty promised in both the Marines and since he'd been out of the service but a look at Dean told him that the man wasn't making empty threats; that he was dead serious and would do just what he said he would so he nodded slowly.

"Yeah, yeah, Dean-o, we understand one another," he agreed after another moment while watching Dean stare at him another moment before he stepped back. Then his face exploded as a fist landed on his jaw and his head snapped back.

"One more thing? Don't ever call him 'Sammy' again," Dean figured he might as well nip that annoying habit in the ass while he was at it, ears picking up the familiar sound of his car even from a distance and knew Sam was arriving. "I don't really care what you call me, though he might, but _I'm_ the only one who calls him '_Sammy_'. Got it?"

Rubbing his jaw slowly, Cole didn't feel anything broke but knew that was only because Dean hadn't put his full weight into the punch…this time. "Yeah. I got it," he agreed and watched Dean's whole demeanor change as the rumble of the Impala was heard pulling up and knowing just how close he'd come a couple times to pissing off a man that might be more dangerous than he'd first believed.

Cole had heard from others about the temper the older Winchester brother had. He'd seen in first hand but he didn't think anyone with a brain in their head would willingly piss the man off or go after what was very plainly the one person Dean Winchester would kill for.

The former soldier could see the differences in the brothers easily but he also saw the worry in Sam right then as well and wondered just how much it had to do with that mark on his brother's arm. He tossed his bag in his jeep while assuring Sam that he understood that he did what he had to back in town when he killed his friend.

He might never understand the world the Winchesters lived in but he thought he'd come a little closer this time and hoped he never had to get any closer than this. "So you and Dean-o take care and I hope not to run across you boys anytime…huh," he grunted as his head snapped back for the second time and had to wonder if he was losing his edge. "This about me almost kneecapping you, Sam?" he asked, remembering to watch his words while he wiped his mouth again.

"No, I get why you did that and I figure by the bruise on your jaw that Dean's already settled his issues over that," Sam replied while tossing a quick look over his shoulder to be sure his brother was just coming out the door but not in earshot yet. "That's for calling my brother 'Dean-o'. Do it again the next time we meet and I'll do more than bloody your mouth, okay?"

Cole fought back the smirk that almost came as he lifted his eyes to see the older Winchester on the cabin's porch and knew he'd seen the punch as well as heard his brother just by the small smile on his face. "Okay, Sam. I've learned my lesson," he shook hands with both men, wished them well and seriously hoped he didn't have to meet them again now that loose ends were tied up.

"Did you hit Cole before I got back?" Sam asked after the Impala was back on the road and he was tired of the thick silence between them as he worked to face his failure at saving a man and how he would not fail to save his brother regardless of what Dean said.

"Maybe," Dean replied with a shrug, sliding a look beside him. "Did you?"

"Maybe," Sam grinned a little and looked over. "I know what you said about sometimes in the end no matter how hard we fight people die. I'm not letting you die."

Dean nodded simply. He knew that was coming because it was how it had been between them. He also knew when they got back home that he needed to find a way to explain to his stubborn brother that it wasn't him dying that worried him so much as it was him killing Sam that was putting the fear of God into him. Right then thought, he'd leave it alone and fight as hard as he'd made Cole fight that night and see where it took them.

**The End**


End file.
